For a second straight weekend, Aric Almirola, Tyler Allen, and the entire No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota GR Supra team dominated in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, this week tackling the half-mile paperclip of Martinsville Speedway.
However, unlike last weekend’s event at Richmond Raceway, where the Tampa, Florida native finished runner-up to Chandler Smith, things fell more elegantly into place this time, as Almirola scored the victory in Saturday’s DUDE Wipes 250.
The triumph marks the fifth win in the NASCAR Xfinity Series for Almirola, and his first on a non-superspeedway oval since Milwaukee in 2007 — a race Almirola took the green flag in for Joe Gibbs Racing but was swapped out mid-race by Denny Hamlin.
“Man, this is so awesome to win for Joe Gibbs Racing,” said Almirola on the frontstretch post-race. “I’ve had an asterisk next to a win for Coach for 17 years and this is so awesome to finally put a real win banner up inside the shop at Joe Gibbs Racing.”
Even though Almirola led a race-high 148 laps, things began to unravel in the race’s closing laps, after choosing the outside lane and losing the lead to teammate Chandler Smith on the penultimate restart of the event.
Almirola would use the bumper to get back around the No. 81 with nine laps remaining, but would soon to challenged and passed, by a hard-charging Sam Mayer, who got his JR Motorsports Chevrolet to the lead with seven laps remaining.
Oddly enough, it was another late-race restart that would assist Almirola in scoring the victory, after Sheldon Creed used the front bumper of his No. 18 Toyota GR Supra to force himself inside three-wide, which allowed his teammate, Almirola, to clear the field on the outside lane.
That would net the No. 20 the lead of the race, a position critical during the NASCAR Overtime restart, after a caution was displayed for a crash with Riley Herbst, Ryan Ellis, and others.
“I’ve had so much pressure to win, I mean I think everybody expected me to jump in and go win, and the reality is, it’s really hard to get in these cars and race against the guys who do this week in and week out,” Almirola added.
Sam Mayer would be credited with a second-place finish, a result much-needed for the JR Motorsports driver after a dismal start to the year. Chandler Smith finished in third place, after having to start at the rear of the pack on Saturday.
In his NASCAR Xfinity Series debut, Carson Kvapil managed an impressive fourth-place result in the No. 88 Chevrolet Camaro for JR Motorsports. Justin Allgaier rounded out the top five. Sheldon Creed, Sammy Smith, Cole Custer, Jesse Love, and Josh Williams rounded out the top-10.
For Almirola, in addition to the victory, and the Owner’s Playoff berth for the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing entry, the long-time NASCAR driver earned a $100,000 bonus through the Xfinity Dash4Cash program, beating out Smith (P2), Love (P9), and Kligerman (P12).
Next weekend at Texas, Almirola won’t be eligible — because he isn’t racing — but Sam Mayer, Chandler Smith, Justin Allgaier, and Sheldon Creed will all be fighting for the $100,000 bonus.
Leaving Martinsville, Chandler Smith continues to hold the NASCAR Xfinity Series points lead, holding a 35-point advantage over Cole Custer, who takes over the runner-up spot from Austin Hill. Jesse Love and Justin Allgaier sit fourth and fifth in points.
Next up for the series is Texas, for the Andy’s Frozen Custard 300 next Saturday.
